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Peer Review: For Teachers
Peer Review: For Teachers

This article is a step by step guide for teachers on using our Peer Review tool, with all information any teacher needs to get started.

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Introduction

In this article we will walk you through how to use Peer Review from the perspective of a teacher.

If you’d like more information on how this tool works, you can check out the overview article here:

Tool In Action

Accessibility

We're devoted to making our tools as accessible as possible for all learners - to read more about accessibility in FeedbackFruits tools, check this article: Accessibility: Within FeedbackFruits Tools.

Overall Student Progress

At the top of the assignment, you will see the Overall student progress overview. Click on statistics per active student to see individual students' progress. Here, you can view their overall grade, whether students have read the instructions, and the statuses of both the reviews they've given and received.

Fig. 1: Overall student progress: Active assignment


Click on the headers in each column to change the order (ascending or descending) in which students are displayed. You can also click Fullscreen to pop out the full display of student progress.

Fig. 2: Full screen statistics per active student analytics

The check marks under read instructions and submissions mean that the student has finished the step. The light green dot means the student has not read the instructions or submitted his file yet.

Under the Given ReviewsReceived Reviews and Automated Feedback (Optional) headers, you will find the completion status of each review for each student. If a student has completed the module, it will display ✔ Completed instead of a percentage.

It is also possible to export all the student data into an excel file. This file contains information concerning review ratings, review comments and grading. You can download this export by clicking on the EXPORT ANALYTICS button in the overall student progress window.

Step 1: Instructions

Instructions: Setting Up

Here, you can see the instructions written when setting up the assignment. These can be changed by clicking on edit on the top right corner of the screen.

Fig. 3: Instruction: Setting up

Collaboration Options:

Directly underneath the instructions, you can select options for student collaboration.

Image showing the student collaboration section - there are two fields, group assignment and groups selected to participate. There's a button to change the group assignments and to select groups to participate in the assignment.

Fig. 4: Student collaboration options

When selecting student collaboration options, there are several configurations to choose from. Please bear in mind that collaboration options need to be selected before students participate in the assignment - once a student makes progress, the configurations can't be updated.

Image showing the available collaboration options. Under the heading students hand in, the options individually or as a group are listed. Under the heading students evaluate, the options individually, within groups, outside of their group or as a group are listed.

Fig. 5: Collaboration options expanded

Options for students hand in:

  1. Individually

  2. As a group

Options for students evaluate:

  1. Individually. Students will individually get assigned to anyone.

  2. Within groups. Students individually get assigned someone within their group. (Disabled if ‘as a group’ option for hand in is chosen).

  3. Outside of their group. Students individually get assigned to someone, not in their group. (Disabled if ‘as a group’ option for hand in is chosen).

  4. As a group. All members of a group get assigned the same work. (Disabled if ‘individually’ option for hand in is chosen).

This will allow for the following combinations:

  1. Hand in work individually, review individually
    Use this option if you want your students to individually hand in their assignment and then be assigned the work of one or more random peers who have also handed in work for this assignment.

    1. Use case: In a class of 20 students, all students are required to submit 2 documents. Each student will receive 2 submissions from (an)other student(s) to review.

  2. Hand in work individually, review within groups
    Use this option if you want your students to individually hand in their assignment and want to use smaller groups to distribute the reviews.

    1. Use case: you have a class of 20 students and split them into 5 groups. Each group is assigned a topic to write a report on - one topic per group. Within the group of 4 people, each person individually submits their reports. At the point of review, each person in the group is assigned someone else in their group to review.

  3. Hand in work individually, review outside of their groups

    Use this option if you want students to individually hand in their assignments and get assigned to review the work of one or more peers outside their own group.

    1. Use case: In a class of 4 groups with 5 students each, each group is assigned a topic to write a report on. Each of the 5 students within the group create their own report individually. When being assigned work to provide feedback on, each student is given a report written by a student from a different group.

  4. Hand in work as group, review individually
    Use this option if you would like a group of students to work collaboratively on the same assignment.

    1. Use case: Students work in 5 groups of 4 on the assignment. Each group submits their assignment as a collective (1 assignment submission per group). All 20 students receive a random allocation from other groups to review.

  5. Hand in work as group, discuss as a group

    Use this option if you want students to hand in their submission as a group, and if all group members should be assigned to the same work to review.

    1. Use case: You have 5 groups - each group has 4 students. All 4 group members collaborate on their initial submission and submit 1 assignment collectively. When receiving work to review, each group of 4 receives one allocation. They collectively discuss and submit their feedback.

For more information on configuring groups when using FeedbackFruits within Blackboard, Brightspace or Canvas, click here. If it's not possible to sync the groups within your LMS or if you are using the platform, you can find more information about how to create groups here.

Instructions: Active Assignment

Here, you can view the instructions you wrote while setting up the assignment. You can edit them by clicking on the Edit button in the top right corner of the screen.

Fig. 6: Instruction: Active assignment

Step 2: Submissions

Submissions: Setting Up

When creating your assignment, you can configure submission options for your students.

Fig. 7: Submissions: Setting up options

Required number of files to hand in: Set the amount of files that students are required to hand in. Note that students will not be assigned to a peer for review if they submit fewer files than required. The submission requirement can be set at exactly, minimum or between your chosen amount. Students can always hand in more files than required.

Scheduling deadlines: Set the hand-in deadline. Students have to upload their work before this deadline. When this deadline has passed, students will be assigned work of a peer or group to review. When no deadline is set in this step, students are assigned work to review when 2 students have handed in. Click here for an explanation about how peers are assigned. When not setting a deadline there is a chance that the allocations cannot be distributed equally, therefore setting no deadline works best in a live feedback session.

If a deadline for submission has been set for the students, you have the option to allow for students to hand in after the submission deadline has passed. Simply enable this option (as shown on the screenshot below), and students will be able to hand in after the submission deadline as well. Keep in mind that enabling this option will not affect the student analytics - you will still be able to see if students have submitted on time or not.

Fig. 8: Enabling handing in late is allowed option

You can also allow students to participate in the review process even if they haven’t submitted their own work by enabling this option. However, this would mean that some students will receive more reviews than others.

File requirements: Check the box next to the file type you want your students to hand in. Students will not be able to upload file types to you deselect. For an overview of which formats are supported for each file type, click here.

Note: Embedded audio and video in documents and slideshows cannot be played in FeedbackFruits.

Plagiarism check: If your institution has opted into our Turnitin integration, you can select here whether the check should be toggled on or off.

You can read more information here: Turnitin FAQ

Anonymity: The students who review the assignments won't be able to know the name of the peer they are reviewing.

Guiding students (optional): If you have specific hand-in instructions for your students (such as the desired font, line spacing, naming the file, etc.) fill them in here. Example: Please name your student number in the file-name. Upload both your essay and the slides you will use when presenting about your essay.

Submissions: Active Assignment

Once the assignment has been set up, this step provides an overview of the students' submitted work, and which students have not submitted their work.

Fig. 9: Submissions: Active assignment

The students' submissions can also be viewed in the assignment itself. By clicking on the file in the files handed in column in the row for the student's name, you can see which files they have submitted. Click on view to view the submitted work.

Note: If the student has submitted a video, you will see the video player instead of the document.

Fig. 10: Viewing the student's file

Exploring the Overview

Headers:

Clicking on the headers will change the order (ascending or descending) in which the students are shown.

Fig. 11: Header

Progress Bar:

Directly above the student breakdown, you can see a progress bar. This shows the students who have not started, have partial progress, have mostly completed, or have completed the assignment.

Fig. 12: Progress bar

You can use the magnifying glass icon to search for a particular student or group name. Additionally, clicking on any of the colors (or the progress chips underneath the bar itself) will change the groups and students portrayed accordingly.

Students who have submitted their work can see whether they submitted it late or on time. Instructors may adjust the deadline or grant individual student’s extensions using the Grant Extension and Change Deadline buttons. In the settings, the deadline can be moved or late hand-in allowed.

Fig. 11: Extension settings

All submitted files can be downloaded by clicking the download icon in step 2. The submissions are in a zip file, the files in this zip file have a name in the format [First name Last name Student] Original file name.

Fig. 12: Download icon

Browse Submissions:

View Submissions navigates you to the submissions playlist, where you can start viewing student’s submissions packets. The reviews at this step show the deliverable submitted by the student.

Fig. 13: View submissions

Fig. 14: View submissions

Selecting Open on the line item will direct you to the deliverable. Please note that this action will not allow you to access the feedback given or received on the artefact. To access this feedback, follow the next two steps outlined below.

Note: If the student has submitted a video, you will see the video player instead of the document.

Step 3: Given Reviews

Given Reviews: Setting Up

In this step, you can specify criteria to help guide students as they give feedback. Click configure to edit, add, or delete criteria. Click here for a detailed guide on setting criteria.

Fig. 15: Given reviews: Setting up

Required number of peers to review: Specify how many peers/groups each student has to review. Reviewing multiple peers is good practice, giving students a broader view of how their peers did in the assignment. At the same time, it means that students get reviewed by several peers, giving a better, more nuanced view of their own efforts.

Self-assessment: Students are able to review their own work before reviewing their peers.

Scheduling deadlines: Set the deadline for giving feedback. Note that reviewers will not be able to view or edit their reviews after this deadline passes. Leave the deadline blank to allow reviewers to view and/or edit their feedback indefinitely.

Allocations: By clicking change you will be able to select your preferred method of allocation. If you set this to all, students will have to review everybody in their group - it's important to be mindful of the student workload when using this setting.

Fig. 16: Allocation method options

Automatically - One by one: The students will be assigned a review one by one, the second review will appear after starting the first one, and so on. This is the default and recommended method of allocation.

Automatically - All at once: Only available if the amount of required reviews is set higher than 1. With this allocation option, students will be assigned all the reviews they'll have to complete at once. The advantage of this is that students will see all their peers at once. The disadvantage is that it allows for less flexibility, i.e. if students only complete 1 review, the others can no longer be assigned to.

Anonymity Enabling this option will make reviewers anonymous. Reviewers will still see the name of the peer they are reviewing. Teachers can also see the name of the reviewer.

Visibility Choose when the students can see their feedback. You can set this to instantly, after release date, a certain date or never.

Guiding students (optional): If you have specific review instructions for your students, fill them in here.

Here, you can also enable Feedback writing tips, which automatically display one tip at a time as students write feedback. Additionally, there's a Review checklist that is shown to students during the review process, and a Feedback coach that provides AI-powered, real-time feedback to help students improve their reviews.

Fig. 17: Guiding students dropdown

Given Reviews: Active Assignment

In an active assignment in this step, you can access an overview of all provided feedback. The reviews in this step display the feedback provided by the student.

Fig. 18: Given reviews: Active assignment

Exploring the Overview

Students who have begun giving feedback on their peer’s submissions will reflected in this step. Clicking on the headers will change the order (ascending or descending) in which the students are shown.

Fig. 19: Header

Underneath the Given Reviews header, you have 3 buttons - view reviews, show allocations, show ratings and full screen. We will cover view reviews in more detail in the next step.

Fig 20: Given reviews button

Show Allocations displays the work assigned to the student for review. If you've chosen a collaboration option other than hand in individually you will also see your chosen collaboration option here.

Fig 21: Allocations

Show ratings presents a heatmap displaying the assessments given by the students. If you have added a self-assessment step, you will also see a button to access this next to the given reviews header at the top of the table.

Fig 22: Show ratings

Full screen offers a wider display for easier view. You may also leverage the Search icon located on the upper right corner to search for individual students.

Fig 23: Given reviews overview: Fullscreen

View Reviews:

The reviews in this step display the feedback provided by the student. View Reviews navigates you to the given reviews playlist, where you can start viewing individual review packets. You may also navigate to a specific student review by hovering over the student’s name in the table below.

Fig 24: View Reviews

Show feedback given to filter defaults to All Reviewers. This provides a consolidated view of all feedback given by Saul Goodman, enabling you to review all his feedback swiftly without navigating multiple sections.

When navigating the Feedback section of the All Reviewers packet, you can hover over the ratings to view the two peers to whom the student assigned that rating. Additionally, New buttons indicate unread comments.

Fig. 25: Given reviews feedback

You may use the dropdown menu to filter by individual packets.

Fig. 26: Show feedback given to option

Fig. 27: Submissions in view reviews

Selecting Open on the line item will take you to the deliverable that has received feedback. Here, Skylar White has provided feedback on Walter White's deliverable. The submitter's name is highlighted in the purple appbar. Refer to the sidebar to review the feedback from Skylar White to Walter White.

To navigate to the next student, click on the back arrow in the purple app bar, and you will be presented with the playlist again. Click Next to move on to the next student.

Fig. 28: Next button

Step 4: Received Reviews

Received Reviews: Setting Up

In this step, you can toggle whether or not students rate their reviewer feedback (also known as feedback on feedback) and set a deadline by when the student should have read all of their received reviews.

Fig. 29: Received reviews: Setting up

Received Reviews: Active Assignment

In this step, you can view an overview of all feedback received. The reviews in this step display the feedback received by the student. It displays their overall progress, average review rating, self-assessment rating, outliers (if enabled), and more. To view the full analytics of received reviews, please click on full screen.

Fig. 30: Received reviews overview

Fig. 31: Received reviews overview full screen

Browse Received Reviews:

The reviews in this step display the feedback received by the student. Clicking on View Reviews takes you to the workflow playlist, where you can start viewing student review packets. The reviews at this step show the feedback received by the student.

The Show feedback given by filter defaults to All Reviewees. This provides a consolidated view of all feedback received by a student, enabling you to review all his feedback swiftly without navigating multiple sections. You may use the dropdown menu to filter by individual review packets. Click on the Next button to navigate between students who have received reviews.

Fig. 32: Received reviews

Review, respond or upvote:

You may view ratings and comments view the review packet or the side bar. It is possible to respond to these comments or upvote them.

Fig. 33: Upvote and comment on the student's comment

Add yourself as a reviewer:

To add yourself as a reviewer while reviewing the feedback a student has received from their peer, simply click on the purple icon located at the bottom right of your screen.

Fig. 34: Adding yourself as a reviewer button

Upon clicking the purple icon, you'll encounter an empty review packet, with your name automatically added to the reviewer filter. From there, you can proceed to provide your review. It's important to note that once you submit your review, you won't have the ability to retract it, so please review your feedback carefully before finalizing.

Fig. 35: your packet as a reviewer

Step 5: Reflect on Activity (optional)

Reflect on Activity: Setting Up

In this step, you can enable whether or not students should reflect on their assignment.

To add a reflection step, please scroll down to the bottom of the assignment in edit mode and click on the plus (+) button in the purple circle to view available learning steps to add.

Fig. 36: Adding learning step

When setting up the reflections step, you can specify the required length of the written reflection, with a minimum of 1 word and a maximum of 5000 words. You can also set a deadline for when students must complete their reflection and enable features like the Reflection Coach, which provides AI-powered, real-time feedback to help students improve their reflections. This option is available under the Guiding Students section.

However, please note that this step is optional. If you decide that student reflections are unnecessary, you can remove this step by clicking the X button in the top right corner.

Fig. 37: Reflection: Setting up

Reflect on Activity: Active Assignment

In this step, you can view an overview of all student-written reflections.

Writing a reflection is a valuable step to conclude an assignment. For example, the student can write a reflection on how the entire process of providing feedback went. The teacher will see this reflection in an overview in step 4 (if the teacher has enabled this option in the settings).

Students can write their reflections after providing feedback to their peers, regardless of whether they have completed the Received Review step.

Fig. 38: Reflection: Active assignment

Here, the teacher can see which groups and which specific students have made progress in completing their reflection. Only the groups whose students have made progress on this step will be shown as in the image below. If the teacher wants to read a specific student's reflection, the teacher clicks view next to the student's name to see their reflection.

Clicking the View Reflections button will take you to the reflections playlist, allowing teachers to easily browse through the entire list of student-written reflections.

Step 6: Grading

Grading: Setting Up

You can add grading criteria to your assignment by clicking on the purple plus (+) button on the bottom left. You can configure how many points you want to give to each process of the assignment and whether the grade should be published as a percentage or pass/fail.

Fig. 39: Grading: Setting up

By clicking configure, you can customize your grading criteria and toggle certain parameters on or off depending on the needs of the particular assignment you're setting up:

Fig 40: Configure grades

Grading: Active Assignment

In this step, you have to access a comprehensive overview detailing the grades of each student within the system.

If the teacher has included grading in the settings, it will be visible after the last step. The image below shows what that will look like. By clicking on the arrow on the right or using the scroll bar at the bottom, the teacher can view the rest of the grade sections (from left to right). On the far right there is also an optional grade adjustment . This allows the teacher to add or subtract points for each student. Click on Fullscreen to get a better view.

Fig 41: Grading: Active assignment

Fig 42: Grading: Active assignment fullscreen

Good to Know

Anonymity

If anonymity is enabled, the students work under a pseudonym, but the teacher can always see the student name.

Fig 43: Anonymity enabled

Fig 44: Anonymity revealed to the teachers

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